Lyr/Tune Req: 10,000 Miles (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

Subject: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From:
Date: 11 Feb 98 - 11:05 PM

Hi, I am looking for the lyrics and music to the song 10,000 miles that Mary Chapin Carpeter sang in the movie, Fly Away Home.I would be very happy if someone could supply some info on the lyrics and where I might find it recorded. Thanks Sherry :-)

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Benjamin Bodhra/nai
Date: 12 Feb 98 - 03:40 AM

Sherry give us a little more info, like maybe some of the lyrics. Some of us may not have seen the movie but may know the song if we get some of the words.

Sla/n

BB

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Feb 98 - 03:55 AM

Didn't find the song, but here's a little information:
10,000 Miles

From the film Fly Away Home This lovely piece of music was produced by Mary Chapin, John Jennings and Mark Isham. The song is performed twice in "Fly Away Home" and the second you hear the tune you will be blown away !
Unfortunately the only way to hear Mary Chapin perform this tune is by watching the movie, there was not a soundtrack released for this film, and Mary Chapin has yet to record this traditional Irish tune on any albums, lets hope that someday she will! There is a recording by Mary Black under the title "Fare Thee Well."
This web site has a little information.

Say, could the song you're looking for possibly be Fare Thee Well Marianne? It has the phrases "ten thousand miles" and "fare thee well."
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Paul Stamler
Date: 13 Feb 98 - 12:47 PM

If this is the song I think it is, see Carl Sandburg's "American Songbag" (which Pete Seeger used to call "Sandbag's Songbird").

Peace. Paul

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Bruce O.
Date: 13 Feb 98 - 11:32 PM

Is this what we're looking for?

The Unkind Parents... [1690-96. ZN1917]

Now fare thou well, my Dearest Dear,
and fare thou well awhile,
Altho' I go, I'll come again;
if I go ten thousand miles, Dear Love
if I go ten thousand mile.

Ten thousand mile is far, dear Love,
for you to come to me;
Yet I could full ten times more
to have thy company, dear Love,
to have thy, &c.

[skip 13 verses to last verse]

And even as the Turtle Dove
fits Cooing on a Tree,
For the return of his true Love,
so will I wait for thee, dear Love,
so will I wait for thee.

See "True Lover's Farewell", Sharp-Karples, #114, and referrences there.

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: SherryT123
Date: 14 Feb 98 - 01:40 AM

Wow, thanks for all the responses! I think I found the song, it is called Fare Thee Well and also is called Ten Thousand Miles depending on who sang it. I did some searches on the web and found several artists who have done it but none can compare to the way that Mary Chapin Carpenter did it in the movie Fly Away Home and as far as I can tell she has no recordings of it other than on the movie itself(which I loaned out and have to get back!). I'll get it back and then make a copy of the song that way. If you haven't heard it, check it out. It is a beautiful song. The lyrics start out like this... Fare thee well my own true love, farewell for awhile, I'm going away...but I'll return if I go ten thousand miles... Thanks again for all your responses. Sherry :-)

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Feb 98 - 04:11 AM

Glad we could help - sounds like we're all talking about different versions of the same song.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Bruce O.
Date: 14 Feb 98 - 10:33 AM

I just stumbled across another version of the song (with music) in Frank Purlsow's 'Marrow Bones', p. 94, 1965. There it's called "The Turtle Dove", 7 verses.

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Bruce O.
Date: 14 Feb 98 - 12:42 PM

Yet another "Turtle Dove" text is in Stephen Sedley's 'The Seeds of Love', p. 129. 4 verses and tune. Laws didn't consider this a narrative ballad, so there's no convenient reference number for it. For this and several others that go by many titles we could sure use some, to get things together.

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From:
Date: 14 Feb 98 - 01:09 PM

The Canadian group Tamarack did a version of Marianne, but I am not sure if that LP is out on CD.

Wasn't there a Bob Dylan song along these lines?

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Bruce O.
Date: 14 Feb 98 - 01:14 PM

There is a reference number for the song, Roud# 422 in Steve Roud's folksong index. Roud includes a few versions of what I would call other songs that have many of the same verses, for a total of about 90 different texts.

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Paul Stamler
Date: 16 Feb 98 - 01:37 PM

Yep; it was called "Fare Thee Well" and was basically a reworking of "Ten Thousand Miles". It's a song that's gone through many, many versions, all composed of common-stock floating verses. John Jacob Niles helped popularize it.

Peace. Paul

Subject: Lyr Add: THE UNKIND PARENTS and MARY ANN
From: Bruce O.
Date: 17 Feb 98 - 12:23 AM

Below I give the full text of the broadside of c 1690-96, and following it, a mid 19th century version of the song "Marianne" in DT.

The Unkind Parents:
Or,
The Languishing Lamentation of two Loyal Lovers.

To an Excellant New Tune. Licensed according to Order.
[Two staffs of meaningless music, random type on staff.]

Now fare thou well, my Dearest Dear,
and fare thou well awhile,
Altho' I go, I'll come again;
if I go ten thousand miles, Dear Love
if I go ten thousand mile.

Thne thousand mile is far, dear Love,
for you to come to me;
Yet I could full ten times more
to have thy company, dear Love,
to have thy, &c.

Thou art my Joy and chief delight,
Love, leave me not behind,
If from my presence you take flight
then you are most unkind, dear Love,
then are &c.

I cannot be unkind, my Dear,
my heart is linked to thee;
But while on Shore I tarry here,
thy Friends does frown om me, dear love,
thy friends, &c.

For they in Riches so abound,
that I am held in scorn;
This give my heart a fatal wound,
which makes my life forlorn, dear Love,
which makes, &c.

O cruel Parents, most unkind,
the cause of all my woe;
This parting to my grief I find,
will prove my overthrow, dear Love,
will prove, &c.

If thou dost cross the roaring Seas,
into a Forreign Land,
My heart will never be at ease,
destruction is at hand, dear Love,
destruction, &c.

Oh say not so, let patience guide
thy heart, and don't complain;
For tho' I cross the Ocean wide,
I may return again, dear Love,
I may, &c.

Thy Parents that are so unkind,
who does our peace annoy,
May then be of another mind,
and Crown our days with Joy, dear Love,
and Crown, &c.

Maid:) If thou shouldst languish in distress
in Forreign parts alone;
Thy grief in Tears thou might'st express,
and I not hear thy moan, dear Love,
and I, &c.

If solemnly you do ingage
to range perpetually,
I will in habit of a Page,
go through the world with thee, dear Love,
and I, &c.

Ah! say not so my Charming Fair;
for why sweet Saint behold,
Thy tender nature can not bear,
the melting heat and cold, dear Love,
the melting, &c.

Altho' I may in Deserts range,
my heart is linked fast;
Therefore my mind shall never change,
so long as life does last, dear Love,
so long, &c.

Mountains and Rocks on wings shall fly,
and roaring Billows burn.
E're I will act Disloyalty; [sic]
then wait for my return, dear Love,
then wait, &c.

Love, might I have a Lord or Earl,
the chief Nobility,
Who would deck me with Orient Pearl,
I'd slight them all for thee, dear Love,
I'd slight, &c.

And even as the Turtle Dove
sits Cooing on a Tree,
For the return of his true Love,
so will I wait for thee, dear Love,
so will I wait for thee.

Printed for C[harles] Bates, next the Crown Tavern in West- Smithfield.

Stephen Sedley in 'The Seeds of Love' gives a conflated text, 'Turtle Dove'. This is partly derived from a late 18th century text, 'The True Lover's Farewell'. He gives another 3 verse text as his 'B' version which he says is from an Anglo-American music-hall burlesque song "Mary Anne", dating from the 1850's. His version of the latter goes:

Fare you well my own Mary Ann,
Fare you well my dear,
For the ship is a waiting and the wind blows high,
and I am bound away to the sea Mary Ann.

The pride of all the produce rare
That in our garden grew
Was pumpkins, but none could compare
In angel form with you my dear Mary Ann.

A lobster boiling in the pot
A bluefish on the hook
They're suffering long, but it's nothing like
The ache I bear for you my dear Mary Ann.

I have some doubts about the 'common stock floating verses'. It seems to me new verses were pretty much modeled on the ones already in the two songs above.

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Bruce O.
Date: 17 Feb 98 - 01:17 AM

According to Steve Roud's broadside ballad index there copies of "The True Lover's Farewell" in the Madden and White broadside collections. "My Mary Ann" (a more common title than "Mary Ann") is Roud #4438. 7 broadside copies are noted, and one in Henderson's 'Victorian Street Ballads' p. 61. None of these have I seen.

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Bruce O.
Date: 17 Feb 98 - 11:42 AM

A 4 verse version of "My Mary Ann" is in 'Heart Songs', p. 246, 1909, with a tune attributed to a M. Tyte.

Subject: Tune Add: MY MARY ANN
From: Bruce O
Date: 17 Feb 98 - 04:00 PM

DT's "Marianne" doesn't have a tune, so here's one. Song in 'Heart Songs' is nearly the same as that in DT, but the first verse isn't repeated at the end. There's also a partial repeat of the last line of each verse. I've dropped the music for this in the ABC below.

X:1
T:My Mary Ann
N:Heart Songs, 1909
N:Tune attributed to A. Tyte
L:1/8
M:2/4
K:C
G|G E c3/2 A/|G/A/ (G/ E/) C3/2 E/|G E (G/ G/) (c/e/)|\
(d2 d) (c/ d/)|e (e/ d/) (d/ c/) (B/ d/)|c (c/ E/) F3/2 G/|\
A3/2 G/ A (d/ B/)|c G/ E/ C |]

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Paul Stamler
Date: 18 Feb 98 - 03:03 AM

By 'common-stock floating verses' I meant such as "Who will shoe your pretty little foot/And who will glove your hand", which show up often in American versions. Peace. Paul

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Bruce O.
Date: 18 Feb 98 - 01:46 PM

The fact that "Lass of Roch Royal" is crossed with versions of "True Lover's Farewell" in Sharp-Karples #114, and in two versions of the song in Sandburg's 'American Songbag' leads me to suspect that there was a published version of the crossed ballad, and the inclusion is not simply random addition of verses from 'common stock'. I also suspect that this 'common stock' was largely that of ballad writers, rather than that of traditional singers (speculation, not fact).

Subject: Lyr Add: THE RED ROSE (from Burns, Americanized)
From: Sir
Date: 19 Feb 98 - 12:00 AM

I had a nice choir arrangement of the Turtle Dove when I taught that subject and I thought that the words were borrowed from a Robert Burns poem I had memorized as a teenager, THE RED ROSE:

Oh, my love is like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June
Oh, my love is a melody
That's sweetly played in tune

So fair thou art, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I
And I will love thee still, my dear
Till all the seas go dry

Till all the seas go dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt with the sun
And I will love the still, my dear
When the sands of life have run.

So fair thee well, my bonnie lass,
And fair thee well a while,
And I will come again my dear
Though it were ten thousand mile.

(Yes, I know this is Americanized pronunciation but I figured if I tried writing it in Burns own words I'd really mess it up.) I guess Burns is the one who refashioned the words of an old song.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 17-Jul-02.

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Bruce O.
Date: 19 Feb 98 - 10:44 AM

There's not much original in Burns' song. Burns' song is mostly modeled closely on the "Unkind Parents (above)/ True Lover's Farewell". His 1st verse, however, is from "The Wanton Wife of Castle-gate", (ZN860), a late 17th century broadside ballad. The broadside itself looks like mostly two songs strung together with a few stray verses tossed in.

Subject:
From: FOLKSINGER
Date: 09 Nov 98 - 10:30 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics to the song at the beginning of the movie "Fly Away Home"? They are sung by Mary Chapin-Carpenter and sound like a folk song but I'm not sure. Thanks!!!

---

I moved this message here from another thread on the same topic.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Bruce O.
Date: 05 Dec 98 - 06:03 PM

"My Mary Ann. The Yankee Girl's Song" is in the Levy Collection, box 51, item 56. It's of 1856, and words are credited to Barney Williams. I don't get the song using the 'Bibliographic search', just the description. I also have troubles with their box and item search scheme, but if in 'Specify box' you put in 'box 51' and click, then on the first screen put 56 in the search box, then click, you can get the song as well.

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Bean
Date: 05 Feb 99 - 08:25 AM

I have been searching for this tune, as well. It did just "blow my away" as someone put it. I bought the movie so I'll try to tape the song.

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Paul
Date: 24 Feb 99 - 05:23 AM

I came across all your postings re the song 10000 miles while trying to find the soundtrack album for Fly Away Home. The music and Mary Chapin Carpenter's song was something I felt I had to have in my music collection. I saw the video a year ago but have been unsuccessful in tracking down the album. Looks like I'll have to tape the soundtrack off the video, unless someone can help with CD number and label details. thanks, Paul at [e-mail]

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Pete
Date: 22 Apr 99 - 09:43 AM

I found this site for exactly the same reason the person who started it came here; I've been looking like crazy for a CD with Mary Chapin Carpenter's song from "Fly Away Home." Unfortunately, the information here just confirms what I had found; it's not on a CD.

What a strange business. How could it not be? Perhaps in the future . . .

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: JB3
Date: 26 Apr 99 - 03:28 AM

The tune used in the movie is very reminiscent of "The Water is Wide".

Subject: RE: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Jenny
Date: 01 May 99 - 04:20 PM

I found this site earlier today and although your efforts did seem to indicate that I was on a hopeless cause, I later discovered the following... '10,000 Miles' is to be released on Mary Chapin Carpenters new album 'Party Doll' on 25th May. If, like me, you are also looking for the piano score of the song, I suggest you try searching under Mark Isham, as he is the guy who arranged this particular version. I haven't had much luck on this front yet, but am hoping for an e-mail later from a score supplier. If you cannot wait until 25th May, Mary Black (the Irish folk singer) released a version on her 1984 album 'Collected'. This is a lovely version, but it is guitar rather than piano accompniment which doesn't sound as great as the 'Fly Away Home' arrangement. An Irish group called Northeast Winds also have a version of it on there album 'Ireland By Sail' but I haven't heard this one so you better check that it is the right song before rushing out to buy it!! If you want to search yourself, try using a Yahoo! search, as they are great. Just type in 'yahoo' where your location addres is at the top of your screen and it takes you to the home page. Good luck!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: Peter T.
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 10:42 AM

The film version of the song does actually work on guitar -- you need to tune to an open D -- the whole song (in the sheet music which I have now found) works around an Asuspended resolving to A, with the occasional D or E , and that is it. All you need to do is put your finger on the 3rd string first fret and take it off -- voila, folk!

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: GUEST,Misa
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 05:14 AM

Thanks all of you above~
I'm a Chinese girl and I saw this movie just now,and I've been really moved by it espiacially by the song...but I searched every Chinese site and got no information about that.
Now I understand ...though this passage is very old.
I'll try to find it in another way .thank you :)

Subject: Lyr Add: 10,000 MILES (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
From: GUEST,Peter H
Date: 24 Jun 08 - 02:38 PM

Found on Mary Chapin Carpenter's album "Party Doll and other Favorites", released 1999:

Fare thee well
My own true love
Farewell for a while
I'm going away
But I'll be back
Though I go 10,000 miles

10,000 miles
My own true love
10,000 miles or more
The rocks may melt
And the seas may burn
If I should not return

Oh don't you see
That lonesome dove
Sitting on an ivy tree
She's weeping for
Her own true love
As I shall weep for mine

Oh come ye back
My own true love
And stay a while with me
If I had a friend
All on this earth
You've been a friend to me

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: 10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home
From: GUEST,Nina
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 05:35 PM

Hi,
My choir is learning the song "10,000 Miles" but it is a choir version of this song. I am trying to get a hold of the lyrics for this version or a performance. Has anybody heard of this version? Or can tell me where to find it? Thank you!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: 10,000 Miles (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
From: GUEST,Curious in Vermont
Date: 26 Sep 21 - 03:00 PM

I fell in love with "Ten Thousand Miles" when I first heard Brian Peters sing (live and terrific) a version that was noticeably different from the song as I learned it 50 years ago. That led me to Nic Jones's gorgeous version, which in turn took me to Mary Chapin Carpenter's orchestrated rendition--and now I see that June Tabor also released an orchestrated version, which I think came before Carpenter's. Anyone have any info on that?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6v_wwg1ITI (Tabor)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axf9uAuHwRU (Jones)